KSA Jails 7 Up to 20 Years over Protests

Local Editor

A Saudi court has jailed seven protesters for up to 20 years for joining a demonstration and chanting anti-government slogans, local media reported Thursday.

The Eastern Province, where Qatif is located, was the site of frequent protests between February 2011 and August 2012.

A specialized court in Riyadh on Wednesday sentenced the young defendants to between six and 20 years in prison and imposed travel bans of the same duration as their jail terms.

They were convicted of "taking part in protests", "chanting slogans against the state", and "possessing and making Molotov cocktails", according to local newspapers.

The court in the ultra-conservative kingdom also sentenced one of the defendants to 80 lashes for consuming alcohol.
The defendants said they would appeal.

Protests first erupted in the province of eastern Saudi Arabia in March 2011.
Since then 10 people have been killed in clashes with security forces.

Activists say there are over 30,000 political prisoners in Saudi Arabia.

In October 2013, rights group Amnesty International censured Saudi authorities for not addressing the "dire human rights situation" in the kingdom.

The group also handed in a paper to the United Nations, which included information regarding a "new wave of repression against civil society, which has taken place over the last two years."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team